06 May Type 3 Brake Conversion
So you have your Bug or Ghia sporting that famous Cal-Look theme, with a lowered stance, the EMPI or BRM-style rims on all four corners, and a mostly-stock sleeper look. Then there is the power plant – that little screaming flat four-cylinder engine that is capable of eating V8s and stomping those import tuners. Whether it is on the street or at the track the whole idea is to get going fast. Very cool, right? Have you thought of how you are going to get all of this horsepower tamed? If one is going to go fast one has to stop fast, and our poor little Bugs just don’t have adequate stopping power. The ’53 through ’57 cars ran 30mm wide brake shoes on all four corners. In 1958, Volkswagen went with 40 mm wide shoes on the front, keeping the 30 mm shoes on the rear until 1965, when they increased to 40 mm. When lowering the front of a Bug in the traditional Cal-Look style, it helps to use a skinny tire to help clear the fenders. To balance the stopping power, you need to run a little more stopping power in the rear, or the skinny front tires will easily lock-up during a hard stop. Installing rear Type III brakes will achieve this. The Type 3 rear brakes from 1961 to 1964 are both 45mm wide and are bigger in circumference. This added up to more stopping power for the heavy Type III. Fortunately, they are an easy fit to a Type 1. Let’s follow along as I install a set on my 1956 Oval.
These are my stock brake shoes, Oh boy; it’s hard to believe that I actually trusted these little things to slow me down from a 100 mph!
Here is a look at the difference between Type III and Type I brake shoes. The rear brake shoes on my Oval measured 30 mm wide (they were this size from 1953 to 1964). In 1965 VW started putting the 40 mm wide shoes on the rear of the Type I. The Type III shoes measure a whopping 45 mm; that’s 15 mm wider then my stock ’56 rear drums. On the Type III to 1965, VW used the wide five-bolt pattern, which is practically a bolt-on to for Type I’s.
Here are my stock ’56 drums and the Type III drums. As you can see, the Type III drum is larger overall, which equates to more stopping surface.
Here is everything you will need to do a Type 3 rear brake conversion. Everything is new excepted for the backing plates. I installed a Type II master cylinder (not pictured).
Since I choose to use used parts, I needed to clean them up. I took them and a few other of the braking parts over to my neighbor, Alden Enterprise, to have them sand blasted and powered coated. Boy what a difference!
I like to assemble the shoes, wheel cylinder and hardware on the backing plates before I install them on the car. The use of a vise to hold the backing plates makes it much easer than bending over to installing them on the car.
In order to install the Type III brakes we have to remove the old stock units. After removing the brake drum, remove the brake lines from the wheel cylinders and unhook the parking brake cable from the backing plate. There are four bolts that hold the wheel bearing hub and backing plate on. If dealing with a swing axle, find a small bowl or old hubcap to catch any gear lube that may be lurking in the axle tube before removing these bolts.
Clean the axle tube of any old gaskets or lube and install the Type III backing plates in reverse order of removing the stock units (the next two pictures). That’s right, they bolt right on! With the parking brake cable (on my ’56 they enter the backing plate from the opposite side), I just looped it around and hooked it up, and it works great.
Time to install the massive brake drum. For those of you running short axles (like me), you will have to have some material machined off the nose of the brake drum (the surface where the axle nut mates to). I again took mine back to my neighbor, Alden Enterprise, where Terry turned the drums; that’s right, I had brand new drums turned. Why? Well I don’t know how many times they were bummed, banged or drooped, and Terry likes to perform this on all of his brake jobs since drums and rotors are shipped from all over the world, where they tend to get beat-up during delivery. After installing the drum, torque the axle nut to 276 foot pounds, and adjust the brake shoes to where they just touch the drum. You can then adjust the parking brake.
You should have a better stopping car. One that is safer to drive, with a better feel to the brake pedal.
I would like to take this time to thank a few people; if it were not for them, I would not be where I am today:
# Alden Enterprise and Racing Components (517-349-2443) – I’m constantly bugging them for one thing or another. They did a great job of powder coating all my parts, as well as turning and machining the drums to fit my short axles.
# Paul Boss of Boss Enterprise (989-224-3913) – for all of the parts and information throughout the years. Paul is full of information and has helped me with all of my technical questions.
# Lastly, I would like to thank everyone on the Forum (CLF) on Cal-Look.com. I have learned so much every day simply through visiting.
